Target Heart Rate ... too easy??

I agree. Those target HR guides are almost worse than BMI for giving an individual any guidance!

"Work hard". That's the best value for fitness, weight loss, and health.

You can't "work too hard". Your body will stop you. If you dispute that, try sprinting for a mile. Nobody on the planet can do that. Not even the fittest athletes. Oh sure, they could cover a mile faster than I can sprint, but it's not 'sprinting' for them.

The target heart range doesn't work for everyone. I would suggest you just keep doing what you're doing and go by RPE instead of heart rate. I do monitor my heart rate occasionally but I've been exercising for so long now that I know within 5 bpm what my HR is just by what my RPE is. I generally work out in the 160 to 170 range and can sustain that appropriately for the duration of a workout, that's about RPE 7 for me. Anything above 175 and I can only sustain that for 10 minutes or so. My max is 192. (I am 35 yo, 5'6", 160 lbs)

I imagine the hear rate monitors on cardio machines have some margin of error, but typically while I'm working out, my HR is reading in the 150-175 range. BUT, after doing a little research, I've read that my target heart rate is actually much lower, 114 - 133.

To me, this sounds like a really light workout. I can keep the pace I'm doing for at least 15 minutes, and will change machines every 20 minutes or so to give different muscles a break. Does this seem odd to anyone? I feel like I will have to make an effort to keep my HR low enough to stay within the target zone, and I worry I will feel like I'm not even working out!

Snapshot of me and my workout: I'm 5'5", 194lbs, 29yo, and I am sitting much of my day, however I go to the gym at least 3-6 days a week. I do weight training MWF, with short cardio sessions on the off days. I haven't lost much weight so far with this routine, but I'm losing inches, so I'm fairly certain I've gained several pounds of muscle.

SparkPeople, SparkCoach, SparkPages, SparkPoints, SparkDiet, SparkAmerica, SparkRecipes, DailySpark, and other marks are trademarks of SparkPeople, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
SPARKPEOPLE is a registered trademark of SparkPeople, Inc. in the United States, European Union, Canada, and Australia. All rights reserved.

NOTE: Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy last updated on October 25, 2013